Advance mechanism for roll-type air filter



Feb. 13, 1968 E. R. MERKLIN ADVANCE MECHANISM FOR ROLL-TYPE AIR FILTER Filed Aug. 12, 19 64 .4 9 2 u 2 2 x 2 i a a 4 1 I... 8 4% 6 1E 4 \L a 2.. m v 0 v 3 6 n a fiJ a 6 J 7 u n 4 7 7. I .n 4 fl r-v3 INVENTOR. [DH/APO P. MGR/(LIN BY Jay/v f. M 6345 United States Patent C) 3,368,333 ADVANCE MEOHANISM FOR ROLL-TYPE AIR FILTER Edward Robert Merklin, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 12, 1964, Ser. No. 388,994 Claims. (Cl. 55-354) This invention relates to the air treating units and particularly to improved means for filtering air supplied to such units. The term air treating is used to comprehend such operations as heating and/ or cooling and/ or humidifying and/or dehumidifying and/ or ventilating.

One object of the invention is to provide an air treating unit having means for advancing a web of filtering material across an air supply opening, together with improved means for gaining access to said web during web replacement periods.

Another object is to provide an air treating unit with a web of filtering material arranged to pass across a pair of separate air openings, whereby to service two different air streams.

Another object is to provide a filter web and electric power means for advancing said web across an air opening, wherein the power means has a detachable driving connection with the web receiver spool, whereby to permit ready to permit ready replacement of used filter-web material.

An additional object is to provide means for driving a web receiver spool which has desired features of low cost, simple installation, positive driving engagement, quiet operation, and minimum maintenance.

A further object is to provide a filter web mechanism which can be added to an existing unit ventilator or conditioner to provide an improved air treating unit.

Other objects of this invention will appear from the following description and appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional veiw taken on line 11 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 22 in FIG. 1 and illustrating an air conditioning unit having one embodiment of the invention incorporated therein; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 3-3 in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of the structure shown in FIG. 3.

Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

In the drawings there is shown a ceiling-hung air treating unit comprising a filtering section and a blower section 12. Filter section 1 comprises a rectangular casing 14 consisting of a front wall 16, a top wall 18, a bottom wall 20, a rear wall 22, and end walls 24 and 26. Extending within the casing are two partitions 28 and 30 which cooperate with the various casing walls to form end compartments 32 and 34 and a central compartment 36. Compartment 36 is in turn provided with a third partition 38 having a fixed section 40 and a movable section 42 attached thereto by hinges 44. Hinged partition section 42 is normally held against a fixed lon- 3,368,333 Patented Feb. 13, 1968 "ice gitudinal stop or jamb 46 by wing nuts 48, whereby the separate air streams flowing from the separate air inlet openings 50 and 52 are prevented from mingling while in section 10. Inlet opening 52 may be connected with a source of recirculating room air, and opening 50 may be connected with a source of outside air.

To filter the separate air streams from inlets 50 and 52 there is provided a web of fibrous filter material 54 which is arranged on a supply spool 56 located within compartment 32. As shown in FIG. 1, web 54 is arranged to be unwound from spool 56 and to extend across an outlet opening formed in rear wall 22. To guide and retain the web there may be provided two spaced channels 58 and 60, and a f-oraminous screen-like wall 62. A receiver spool 64 is located in compartment 34 to draw the filter web across the opening in wall 22.

Spool 64 can be powered manually, although preferably it is powered by means of a small electric motor 66 which is mounted on a bracket 68, said bracket in turn having end flanges for its fixed securement on walls 16 and 26 of the casing. The shaft for motor 66 extends through bracket 68 and carries a circular disc 70 which is provided with seven downwardly extending clutch pins 72. As will be seen from FIG. 1, the pins are located between cooperating clutch teeth formed on the periphery of disc 74 which constitutes part of the aforementioned web receiver spool 64. Thus, when motor 66 is energized disc 70 is driven in a clockwise direction such that its pins 72 drive the web receiver spool 64 in a counterclockwise direction for thereby advancing the web across the opening in wall 22. Preferably motor 66 is energized through an electric circuit which includes a conventional differential pressure switch. The pressure switch is arranged to sense pressures adjacent opposite faces of the filter web such that a pressure differential due to accumulation of dust in the filter media closes the switch and energizes the motor. As the motor causes new filter web surfaces to be presented to the air stream the pressure differential is reduced to automatically deenergize the motor until the next need for new filter material.

Blower section 12 is of conventional construction and comprises a centrifugal blower 76 for discharging air through a heat exchange coil 78 (heating and/or cooling) located above a drip pan 80. An adjustable damper 82 may be provided to regulate the proportion of fresh air and room air supplied to the blower, and a second adjustable damper 84 may be provided to regulate the proportion of discharged air flowing through and around the heat exchange coil 78. Damper 84 is preferably adjusted by a non-illustrated power means which is controlled by a room thermostat as is conventional in the art.

One feature of the present invention resides in the arrangement for gaining ready access to the web of filter material 54 during web replacement periods. For this purpose wall 20 of section 10 is provided with an opening extending fully across the filter section from wall 24 to wall 26. Normally this opening is closed by a closure 86 having hinged connection with wall 20, as at 88. A latch (not shown) may be provided to retain the closure in its full line position. When the closure has been lowered to its dotted line position 86a the three compartments 32, 34 and 36 are readily accessible.

Each web spool 56 and 64 comprises a circular metal disc 74 and a tubular mandrel 89 which is arranged to tightly fit within the plastic or cardboard core of the filter web roll. To rotatably support each spool there is provided a bracket 90 having notches in its opposite ends which fit around studs depending from flanges 92 on the casing side walls. Tubular bearings 93 and 95 are provided on the bracket and easing wall 18 to fit within opposite end portions of tubular mandrel 89. Brackets 90 are normally retained in place by wing nuts 94 which thread onto the aforementioned studs. When the wing nuts are removed from the studs the brackets can be individually lowered to release the spools for servicing purposes. In reinstalling the used media spool 64 its teeth must clear pins 72 as the bracket 90 is lifted upwardly to its position engaged with flanges 92. When spool 64 is in place pins 72 are automatically aligned with the teeth on disc 74 so that motor 66 can automatically rotate the spool as previously described.

The web of filter media must initially be manually threaded from the supply spool in chamber 32 across the opening in wall 22 and over to the receiver spool in compartment 34. The threading operation is facilitated by temporarily removing wing nuts 48 and permitting plate portion 42 to swing down around hinges 44. It is thus possible to manually draw the filter web through the channels 58 and 60 without interference from partition 38.

The drawings show filter section associated with a ceiling-hung ventilator unit 12. However the filter section can be used with a vertical ventilator unit, an under-thewindow unit, or alone. Inlet openings 50 and 52 are shown in casing wall 16; however opening 50 can be formed in another one of the casing walls. When only one air inlet opening is used partition 38 is omitted.

What is claimed is:

1. An air treating unit comprising a casing defined in part by two parallel end walls, parallel front and rear walls interconnecting said end walls, and first and second partitions extending between the front and rear walls parallel to the end walls, said partitions cooperating with the casing walls to define a central compartment and two end compartments; a third partition extending across the central compartment from the front wall to the rear wall and normal to the first and second partitions to define a pair of separate air inlet chambers isolated from one another; a first air inlet opening in the front wall for admitting air to one of the inlet chambers, and a second inlet opening in one of the casing walls for admitting air to the other inlet chamber; said rear wall having an air outlet opening in portions thereof which communicate with the inlet chambers; means for filtering the separate air streams flowing through the inlet chambers to the outlet opening, comprising a web of filtering material extending across said outlet opening, a web supply spool in one of the end compartments, and a web receiver spool in the other end compartment; and access means for the three compartments comprising at least one movable closure extending between the front and rear walls parallel to the third partition.

2. The air treating unit of claim 1 wherein the supply and receiver spools have their axes disposed at right angles to the third partition, said spools being removably retained in the end compartments by individual spool retainer brackets extending across the respective end compartments in close parallel adjacency to the aforementioned access closure means, each bracket having disengageable connections with the compartment walls to permit removal of the respective spools by movement thereof parallel to their axes.

3. The air treating unit of claim 1 and further comprising means for advancing the web of filtering material across the outlet opening, comprising a rotary motor disposed in said other end compartment, a first disc carried by the output shaft of said motor, and projections carried by said disc for effecting rotation of the web receiver spool; said web receiver spool comprising a toothed disc having its teeth engaged with the aforementioned projections; said projections being ineffective to prevent withdrawal of the web receiver spool from its compartment when the aforementioned closure means is opened.

4. The air treating unit of claim 1 wherein the third partition comprises two sections, one of said sections being a fixed section extending from the aforementioned front wall, and the other section being a movable section extending from the first section into close proximity with the web of filter material.

5. The air treating unit of claim 4 wherein the third partition movable section has a hinged connection with the fixed section.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 895,082 8/1908 Fountaine 74-415 1,719,932 7/1929 Holtson 55-500 X 1,868,278 7/1932 Denison 55-354 X 1,982,639 12/1934 Christoflerson. 2,473,501 6/1949 Bahnson 55-351 X 2,306,544 12/1942 Kikuyama 74-415 2,782,612 2/1957 Spieglhalter 55-271 X 2,807,330 9/1957 Rivers 55-354 X 2,857,017 10/1958 Nutting 55-500 2,875,680 3/1959 Forshee 55-354X 2,881,859 4/1959 Nutting 55-354 X 3,003,582 10/1961 Palmore 55-354 3,007,651 11/1961 Palmore 55-354 X 3,034,370 5/1962 Hall 74-415 3,063,301 11/1962 Hall 74-415 3,071,936 1/1963 Irwin. 3,102,014 8/1963 Aitkenhead 55-271 1,342,152 6/1920 Bennett 55-418 X 2,763,139 9/1956 Callan et al. 55-354 X FOREIGN PATENTS 35,334 11/1908 Austria. 614,134 6/1935 Germany. 824,430 12/1959 GreatBritain.

HARRY B. THORNTON, Primary Examiner.

D. TALBERT, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN AIR TREATING UNIT COMPRISING A CASING DEFINED IN PART BY TWO PARALLEL END WALLS, PARALLEL FRONT AND REAR WALLS INTERCONNECTING SAID END WALLS, AND FIRST AND SECOND PARTITIONS EXTENDING BETWEEN THE FRONT AND REAR WALLS PARALLEL TO THE END WALLS, SAID PARTITIONS COOPERATING WITH THE CASING WALLS TO DEFINE A CENTRAL COMPARTMENT AND TWO END COMPARTMENTS; A THIRD PARTITION EXTENDING ACROSS THE CENTRAL COMPARTMENT FROM THE FRONT WALL TO THE REAR WALL AND NORMAL TO THE FIRST AND SECOND PARTITIONS TO DEFINE A PAIR OF SEPARATE AIR INLET CHAMBERS ISOLATED FROM ONE ANOTHER; A FIRST AIR INLET OPENING IN THE FRONT WALL FOR ADMITTING AIR TO ONE OF THE INLET CHAMBERS, AND A SECOND INLET OPENING IN ONE OF THE CASING WALLS FOR ADMITTING AIR TO THE OTHER INLET CHAMBER; SAID REAR WALL HAVING AN AIR OUTLET OPENING IN PORTIONS THEREOF WHICH COMMUNICATE WITH THE INLET CHAMBERS; MEANS FOR FILTERING THE SEPARATE AIR STREAMS FLOWING THROUGH THE INLET CHAMBERS TO THE OUTLET OPENING, COMPRISING A WEB OF FILTERING MATERIAL EXTENDING ACROSS SAID OUTLET OPENING, A WEB SUPPLY OF IN ONE OF THE END COMPARTMENTS, AND WEB RECEIVER SPOOL IN THE OTHER END COMPARTMENT; AND ACCESS MEANS FOR THE THREE COMPARTMENTS COMPRISING AT LEAST ONE MOVABLE CLOSURE EXTENDING BETWEEN THE FRONT AND REAR WALLS PARALLEL TO THE THIRD PARTITION. 